Author Archives: Steve

Why humans can still analyze and think better than ‘bots

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Steve

Last weekend I mentioned wanting to take a refresher course at ACC to punch up my writing skills. Then last night my friend Kate plugs this site which “analyzes” one’s style and pairs it with a famous author. She got … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Factoids | Leave a comment

Magic Artist for iPhone

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Steve

It was only a buck so if the novelty wears off quickly at least I won’t feel very guilty. How the author got it to pull off what appear to be a series of Photoshop filters or fractals, condensed into … Continue reading →

Posted in Apple, Science & Technology | 1 Comment

Happy 100th Birthday to William Hanna

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Steve

He was one half of the legendary Hanna-Barbera team, the duo who significantly changed animation. Some say for the better, others say for the worst. I think they did the best they could based upon the circumstances of their day, … Continue reading →

Posted in Diversions | Leave a comment

Happy Belated 70th Birthday Patrick Stewart

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Steve

I was just too damned tired after eating two-thirds of my Taste of Italy at Olive Garden last night (Somara had a craving for their chicken gnocci soup) to complete this, plus it was a long day with a key … Continue reading →

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Third session of physical therapy…still hurts

Posted on July 12, 2010 by Steve

I managed to do what Doyle (my PT person) requested every day between June 23 and now. Only two days were partially completed and one was skipped, the rest were the full routine. What is my reward? Two more exercises … Continue reading →

Posted in News | 1 Comment

Futurama is back and on target

Posted on July 11, 2010 by Steve

Somara gave me an early birthday present last week, an iTunes season pass for Futurama‘s 26 episode return on Comedy Central. Certainly easier than having a friend hunt down torrent-based files the following day because iTunes automatically downloads it on … Continue reading →

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Buzzards tidying up the local road kill

Posted on July 11, 2010 by Steve

Watching for cars before it gets another helping. Some poor turtle got run over and became a meal for the buzzards (or maybe vultures) of Central Texas. When it began I’m not sure but I’m sure one of the many … Continue reading →

Posted in Pictures | Leave a comment

Word-usage quiz from Webster.com

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Steve

When I’m writing for Picayune, I frequently have another window open in my browser on webster.com. I love to use the site to assist me on spelling, definitions and synonyms. As a speaker of the American dialect of English, I … Continue reading →

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Iron Man

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Steve

Cue the Black Sabbath guitar! Somara’s latest creation is a birthday cake for a little boy we know indirectly. He really enjoyed the current sequel (I missed it) despite it being a tad long for his attention span. Hopefully he … Continue reading →

Posted in Somara's Cakes | Leave a comment

Stars dismantling and a personal memory of Probert

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Steve

I really, really want to know what the plan is for next season with my Austin Stars. Four more players have left for other teams. Over the weekend, Greg Stafford, Mathieu Beaudoin and Matt Climie went to Phoenix. Now we’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in Hockey | 1 Comment

The Last Airbender

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Steve

Hollywood loves to make TV shows from an earlier generation (Miami Vice, The A-Team, Lost in Space, etc.) into terrible movies because they know there’s a built-in familiarity factor that leads to making money. Why a five-year-old Nickelodeon cartoon was … Continue reading →

Posted in In Theaters, Movies | Leave a comment

1985 – Summer Part II: Florida, fighting and failure

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Steve

To recap, at the end of May we moved in with Grandma Maier and during the month of June we got re-acquainted with various members of the Maggi clan due to Grandma Maggi’s terminal illness. The only good development from … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Leave a comment

Post Hurricane Alex weather

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Steve

Not a bad amount of rain last week. It certainly led to us having a relatively mild Fourth of July weekend and we still haven’t cracked 40 C/100 F yet. You guys who live further up North don’t know what … Continue reading →

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Airplane turns 30!

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Steve

Or as it’s known in France, Y a-t-il un Pilote dans L’Avion? Seems the French aren’t keen on maintaining the suspenseful element to making this funny. There was quite a lot of buzz about this movie when it hit the … Continue reading →

Posted in Diversions | 1 Comment

Belated anniversary on Picayune Volume V

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Steve

I can never remember why I think I made the change to a ‘blog format on July 5 and not July 3 (when it really happened). Probably all the other distractions happening around the holiday weekend, namely the beginning of … Continue reading →

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